Stacking and elevating device



July 28, 1953 H. R. cooN, SR., ET AL sTAcxING AND ELEVATING DEVICE 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed May 14, 1945 July 28, 1953 H. R. cooN, SR., ET AL STACKING AND ELEVATING DEVICE '7 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed May 14, 1945 July 28, 1953 H. R. cooN, SR., ET AL STACKING AND ELEVATING DEVICE 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 Original Filed May 14, 1945 BY 5M July 28, 1953 H. R. cooN, SR., ET AL STACKING ND ELEVATING DEVICE 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 original Filed May 14, 1945 July 28, 1953 H. R. cooN, sR., ETAL 2,646,898

STACKING AND ELEVATING DEVICE Original Filed May 14, 1945 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 July 28, 1953 H. R. cooN, SR., ET AL 2,646,898

sTAcxING AND ELEVATING DEVICE Originall Filed May 14, 1945 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 I [nz/enfers. L 'Harold @0274513 ff-'0,7' L J v @Mgwyfg/LML July 28, 1953 H. R. cooN, SR., ETAL 2,646,898

sTAcKING AND ELEVATING DEVICE original Filed may 14, 1945 7 sheets-sheet 7 IN V EN TORS.

By arf I Z440@ A11/mam *@vlw 5 Patented July 28, 195.3

UNH'ED STATESPATENT OFFICE STACKING AND ELEVATING DEVICE Harold R. Coon, Sr., and Earl J. Rapp, Toledo,

Ohio, assignors to Lynch Corporation, Anderson, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Original application May 14, 1945, Serial No.

Divided and this application September 21, 1951, Serial No. 247,928

claims. (C1. 214-6) This invention relates to an automatic stack- An important object is to provide the stacking l mechanism in the form of a pair of conveyors delivering the printed and wrapped articles along two separate paths, one of which terminates at a higher elevation than the other, means being provided to then push a plurality of the wrapped prints at the upper elevation onto a similar plurality of prints at the lower elevation, thus producing a stack which can be cartoned within a single carton.

Still another object is to provide an operating mechanism for stacking the prints in this manner and which includes a vertically reciprocable support having two supporting surfaces at diierent elevations and a ram for moving two prints on the upper surface onto two .prints on the lower surface, thus producing a stack of four prints which are then moved against the carton and the carton folded around the four prints and closed, the closed carton then being delivered from the machine.

With these and other objects in View, our invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various-partsof our device whereby-the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth,

This application is a division of pointed out in the claims andillustrated inthe accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. k1 is a perspective View of a printing, wrapping and cartoning machine for butter and the like embodying our invention and showing the general relation to the parts of the machine, this View being of the side of the machine considered as the right-hand side when facing the direction of travel of the butter therethrough;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation ,of the portion of Fig.

1 indicated by the bracket I2 and showing by dot-and-dash lines the drive from a cam shaft to various other elements of the machine;

Fig. 3 is a vertical View taken along theline 3-'3 of Fig. 7 showing said cam shaft insection Fig. 4 is a plan view of the portion of the matand a cam and associated mechanism for operatf ing a certain link shown in Fig. 2;

Aport 594.

2 5-5 of Fig. 2 and showing a lateral transfer mechanism for the butter print;

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4 showing a cartoning cam shaft and details of the Various mechanisms driven thereby;

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view on the line 1 1 of Fig. 6;

Fig, 8 is an enlarged vertical sectional View on the line 8-8 of Fig, 5;

Fig. 9 is a plan view of portions of the intakeY conveyors which receive the wrapped prints and convey them, for instance to a cartoning mechanism, two prints from one conveyor being shown at the right-hand side of the figure in a position pushed about half way onto two prints from the other conveyor; and

Fig. l0 is a vertical sectional View showing four wrapped prints in stacked formation;

Figures 1 to 10 of this application are identical, respectively, with Figures 1, 12, 12a, 13, 14, l5, 15a, 16, 24 and 25 of our said copending application. For facilitating cross reference, the same numerals are used in this application as in said copending application. Reference is made to said copending application for complete description of Iparts not described in this application.

The device shown in the drawings of this application is adapted to receive wrapped prints of butter. Such prints are received by conveyors shown at 558 and 566 (see Figs. 2 and 4). The driving mechanism for the conveyors 558 and 560 is shown in Fig. 2 and consists of a chain 563 and sprockets within a housing 562 and a chain 564. The chain 564 connects a shaft 565 driven by the chain 563 with a driving shaft 566.

The gearing within the housing 562 drives a shaft 582 around which the conveyor belt 569 extends (see Fig. 2). The conveyor belt 553 extends around a shaft 584 which is somewhat higher than the shaft 582.' The shaft 584 is geared to the shaft 582 by intermediate gears 586, 58B and 590.

Prints of butter are adapted to be received from the conveyor 566 directly by a print support 592. The prints from the conveyor 558 are adapted to -be received directly by a print sup- The print supports 592 and 594 are horizontal `and are part of a single bracket which has a vertical transition wall 593 (see Fig. 5). The print support 592 is lower than the print support 594, and each one is wide enough to support two prints of butter. With such an arrangement two prints are adapted to be supported on i I We claim as our invention:

1. A device for simultaneously stacking and elevating al plurality of articles, said device comprisingr two 'conveyors extending side by 'side and having verticallyV oifset terminals, supporting means having two vertically loffset supporting surfaces andmovable vertically between an upper position and a lower position wherein said supporting surfaces are aligned with said `conveyor terminalsto receive a'plurality of articles therefrom, reciproable pusher means carried by said supporting means for pushing articles from said upper supporting surface onto articles on said lower supporting surface to stack said articles, elevating means for moving said supporting means between said upper and lower positions and actuating means for said reciprocable pusher means synchronized with said elevating means to effect article pushing advancement of. said pusher means as said supporting means is raised and retraction of said pusher means as said supporting means is lowered.

2. A device for concurrently advancing, stacking and elevating a plurality of articles, said device comprising two conveyors extending side by side and having vertically offset terminals, supporting means having two vertically offset supporting surfaces arranged side by side, said supporting means being movable vertically between an upper position and a lower position wherein said supporting surfaces are aligned with said conveyor terminals to receive a plurality of articles therefrom, rst pusher means carried .by said supporting means and reciprocable transversely across said upper supporting surface for pushing articles from said upper supporting surface onto articles on said lower supporting surface to stack said articles, second pusher means reciprocable lengthwise over said lower supporting surfaces and operative when said supporting means is in said upper position to displace a stack of said articles from said lower supporting surface, a supporting member for receiving a stack of said articles displaced from said lower supporting surface, elevating means for moving said supporting means between said upper and lower positions, actuating means for said rst reciprocable pusher means synchronized with said elevating means to effect article pushing advancement :of said first pusher means as said supporting means is raised and retraction of said first pusher as said supporting means is lowered, and actuating means for said second pusher means synchronized with said elevating means to effect stack pushing advancement of said second pusher means when said supporting means is in said upper position and retraction of said second pusher means as said supporting means is lowered.

3. A device for concurrently advancing, stacking and elevating a plurality of articles, said device ycomprising two conveyors extending side by side and having vertically offset terminals, an elevator having two vertically offset supporting surfaces arranged side by side and movable vertically between an upper position and a lower position wherein said supporting surfaces are aligned with said conveyor terminals to receive a plurality of articles therefrom, a first pusher carried by said elevator and slidable transversely across said upper supporting surface for pushing articles from said upper supporting surface onto articles on said lower supporting surface to stack said articles, a rack extending transversely of said elevator and rigidly connected to said pusher, a gear sector meshing with said rack and oscillatably 'mounted oni. said elevator, a link having one end pivoted' to said gear sector and another end pivond pusher -means reciprocable lengthwise over,

said lower supporting surfaces `and operative when said supporting means is in said upper position to displace a stackl of said articles from said lower supporting surface, a supporting member Vforfreceivingfa stack of said articles,v displaced from said lower supporting surface, elevating means for moving said supporting means between said upper and lower positions, actuating means for said rst reciprocable pusher means synchronized with said elevating means to effect article pushing advancement of said rst pusher means as said supporting means is raised and retraction of said rst pusher as said supporting means is lowered, and actuating means for said second pusher means synchronized with said elevating means to effect stack pushing advancement of said second pusher means when said supporting means is in said upper position and retraction of said second pusher means as said supporting means is lowered.

4. A device for concurrently advancing, stacking and elevating a plurality of articles, said device comprising two conveyors extending side by side and having vertically offset terminals, an elevator having two vertically offset supporting surfaces arranged side by side and movable between an upper position and a lower position wherein said supporting surfaces are aligned with said conveyor termin-als to receive a plurality of articles therefrom, a transverse slideway affixed to one side of said elevator, a rst carriage reciprocable on said slideway, a first pusher carried by said carriage and reciprocable transversely across said upper supporting surface for pushing articles from said upper supporting surface onto articles on said lower supporting surface to stack said articles, a rack rigidly connected to said carriage, a gear sector meshing with said rack and mounted oscillatably on said elevator, a link having one end pivoted at a fixed point and another end pivoted to said sector for oscillating said sector as said elevator is moved whereby said pusher is reciprocated across said upper supporting surface as said elevator is raised, a rotatable shaft carrying rst and second cams, a first link system actuated by said first cam to reciprocate said elevator, a stationary slideway extending beside said elevator lengthwise of said conveyor, a second carriage slidable on said stationary slideway, a generally U-shaped rod having one end pivotally connected to said second carriage and another end reciprocable lengthwise of said conveyors across said lower supporting surface to push therefrom articles stacked therein, and a second link system actuated by said second cam to reciprocate said end lengthwise of said conveyors, said irst and second cams being shaped to effect pushing movement of said end across said lower supporting surface when said elevator has been raised to said upper position.

5. A device for concurrently stacking -and elevating a plurality of articles, said device comprising an elevator having two vertically oset supporting surfaces arranged side by side and adapted to receive a plurality of said articles, a transverse slideway affixed to one sideof said elevator, a carriage reciprocable on said slideway, a pusher carried by said carriage and recipro- 7 8 'cable across saidV upper supporting siuface for raised, and means for raising and lowering said pushing articles from said upper supporting surelevator. face onto artfslesA on said lower supportingV sur- HAROLD R. COON, Sx. face` to stack said articles,- ra rack. rigidly con- EARL- J.` RAPP. nectect to said carriage,` a gear sector meshing 5 Y with said rack and mounted oscillatably on said References Cited in the me 0f this Patent elevator', -alnk haVIlg' 011e end pVO'ed at a fixed UNITED STATES PATENTS point and. another' end pivote@ to sa'd sector for Number Name Date oscillating said sector as said elevator is moved A i l 

